I actually think you can make a strong argument for any of the top three picks on this list for No. 1. Willie Roaf was one of the best tackles in league history and is a certain Hall of Famer. Marques Colston is likely to finish as the Saints' all-time leading receiver and he was selected in the seventh round.

But in the end, it's hard to beat landing a Hall of Famer late in the second round. The selection of Rickey Jackson with the No. 51 pick of the 1981 draft has the positive qualities of both the Roaf and Colston picks. Like Roaf, Jackson is a Hall of Fame talent. And like Colston, he was selected in a position where such talents normally aren't found. The selection of Jackson was the best combination of value, talent acquisition and strategy in Saints' draft history.

Even the Saints didn't know what they were getting. After all, they selected safety Russell Gary ahead of Jackson with their first pick of the second round.

"We thought he was going to be a good player, but from the first day he came in he was a great player," said Dallas Cowboys coach Wade Phillips, who was the Saints defensive coordinator during Jackson's first five seasons. "He whipped every tight end we had the first day he got there. So it was obvious to me and everybody else that he was ready to play when he came into professional football."

After Jim Mora took over as Saints coach in 1986, Finks drafted another linebacker named Pat Swilling. Two other linebackers - Sam Mills and Vaughan Johnson - came over, like Mora, from the United States Football League.

It didn't take long for Jackson to establish himself as the most dominant and well-rounded left outside linebacker in professional football, an ideal fit in the 3-4 defensive scheme New Orleans used at the time. Playing on the strong-side opposite the fleet Swilling, Jackson spearheaded the Saints' dominant defense during the famed Dome Patrol days of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"He was the kind of player who could get better as the game went along," former Saints Coach Bum Phillips recalled. "He was a great run player, as well as a great pass defender and pass rusher. A lot of people are graded highly at in one or two, but not all three. He'd cover a tight end or a running back, he could do anything and still react up to the screens. He was a good mental football player."

There were often times during the 13 years he played with the Saints that Jackson didn't come off the field, participating on special teams and, in the dawn of situational defenses, nickel and dime packages in either pass or run coverage.

Former Saints offensive tackle Stan Brock called Jackson "the toughest player that I ever played with."

"He was a hell of a football player," Brock said. "There were a lot of others who got more recognition, but I don't think there are any others who can say they were a better linebacker than Rickey."

In 15 years -- Jackson played his last two with the San Francisco 49ers -- he had 128 sacks, third on the all-time list at the time of his retirement (he's still in the top 10), while recovering 29 fumbles, still second-most in NFL history, and forcing 40, fourth-most all-time. He knocked down 118 passes.

"As tough a football player as I ever coached," Mora said. "I've told a lot of people this: If I was ever cornered in an alley, by a bunch of guys, and I could pick a few guys to help me out, one of them would be Rickey Jackson."